The Nature of Consciousness and the Path to Recognition

Opening Dedication

Many are unable to plunge into the vast "Light on the Tantras"; therefore, may all listen to this work, "The Essence of the Tantras", composed in straightforward language.

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As an act of revering the Divine, may all contemplate this lotus of the heart of Abhinava Gupta, its blossom opened by the light falling from the rays of the sun; that is to say, its contraction has been forever banished by the wisdom descending from the feet of the illuminator, my guru Sambhunatha.

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Introduction: Insight as the Sole Cause of Liberation

According to this View, insight (jnana) is the one and only cause of spiritual liberation, because only insight can uproot ignorance (ajnana), which is the one and only cause of bondage. There are two kinds of ignorance: 'mental' and 'personal'. Mental ignorance is simply a lack of understanding and wrong understanding. Personal ignorance is the false sense of being a separate individual -- the contracted manifestation of Awareness that forms the basis for all distorted mental constructs and is the root cause of the cycle of suffering.

Personal ignorance can be removed by Tantric initiation and the spiritual practice it makes possible. But initiation itself is not possible while mental ignorance -- the lack of discernment derived from diligent effort -- persists. Initiation consists of purification of the tattvas and unification of the soul with Shiva, which requires clear understanding of what ought to be abandoned and what ought to be cultivated.

Thus it is specifically insight at the level of the mind, consisting of discernment derived from diligent effort, that is most important initially. If that very insight is repeatedly cultivated, it eradicates personal ignorance as well, because the regular practice of conceptual awareness culminates in direct, non-conceptual experience.

Chapter One: The Nature of the Goal

On this path, the first thing to be grasped and understood is the nature of the goal. In our way, the ultimate goal is simply recognition of one's own fundamental nature. That is what is most worth seeking in this world.

That fundamental nature is the same in all beings and all conditions: it is simply the Light of Creation (prakasha), because it is impossible that anything uncreated could be one's fundamental nature. And that Light is one, not many -- its fundamental nature could not be divided, since nothing having a nature different from it could enter it. Not even time or place can divide it, because both have that very Light as their fundamental nature. The Light of Creation is singular, and it is simply Consciousness.

That Light of Consciousness is not dependent on anything else, for dependence would require the quality of needing to be illuminated by something external, and there is no other light whatsoever. Thus the Light of Consciousness is both singular and independent. Because of that very independence it is free of divisions and limitations of place, time, and form; therefore it is all-pervasive, eternal, and retains its formless nature even while assuming all forms.

The Five Powers of Consciousness

Its independent freedom is its Power of Bliss (ananda-shakti). Its relishing of that freedom is its Power of Will (iccha-shakti). The fact that it is the Light of Creation is its Power of Awareness (cit-shakti). The fact that its nature is to reflect itself is its Power of Knowing (jnana-shakti). And the fact that it can assume any form is its Power of Acting (kriya-shakti).

Though conjoined with these principal Powers, in actuality it is the unbounded Light of Consciousness (prakasha), reposing in its innate bliss of self-awareness, endowed with the Powers of Willing, Knowing, and Acting, that we call God.

The Individual Self and the Modes of Realization

When Shiva (the Light of Consciousness), in his independent freedom, causes himself to appear in a contracted form, we call him 'the individual self' (anu). And through that same freedom he again illuminates his real being so that his nature as Shiva -- the unbounded Light of Consciousness -- shines forth. When that occurs, he may illuminate his real being without needing any method to do so, or with such methods -- again as an expression of his independent freedom.

When this process unfolds with recourse to methods, all those methods may be subsumed within three categories: Willing, Knowing, or Acting. Thus three modes of Immersion (samavesha) are taught: the Divine (shambhava), the Empowered (shakta), and the Embodied (anava). Together with the spontaneous mode free of method, there are four modes of realization, taught sequentially in this work.

The Self is an embodiment of the Light of Consciousness; it is the free and independent Divinity made manifest. As an expression of the vigorous joy of the divine play of its freedom, the One conceals its own nature; and also certainly reveals its innate fullness once again. That may occur spontaneously or through a process; and if the latter in three modes.

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